How Do You Know If You Need Filler or a Facelift?
To know which procedure will help you look naturally younger, you need to understand what changes have occurred to cause you to look older. Filler is the perfect choice for replacing lost volume, but what if your jowls are caused by skin laxity or muscle sagging, not fat loss in your cheeks?
Facial microVector Analysis™ is the visual reading of the topographical changes to the face by a skilled cosmetic surgeon. This analysis evaluates the multitude of tiny changes to each of these layers – the fat, muscle, and skin – to determine which treatments will best correct those changes.
What Makes Your Face Look Older?
- Skin Damage – wrinkles, uneven texture, and pigmentation changes, as well as skin laxity (looseness) and thinning
- Sagging Muscles – loosening of connective tissues and loss of muscle tone
- Volume Changes – our necks tend to accumulate more fat as we age, while our faces tend to lose fat
What Can Make Your Face Look Older?
Each of these three types of tissues experiences different shifts, in multiple directions and in varying areas of the face. This collection of changes makes up your unique pattern of aging. Sometimes the changes are noticeable – like thinning skin that pools where your smile lines meet your chin – and sometimes these changes are very hard to perceive – like when fat loss in the cheeks and undereyes leads to excess skin along the jawline.
Above you can see an example of a Facial microVector Analysis. In this topographical mapping of the face, you can see where the lines of change indicate a loss of fat volume directly under the eyes, as well as muscle shifts in the lower cheek and almost no skin laxity. This patient’s results at right were achieved through fat grafting to restore the volume under the eye as part of an IdealEyes procedure, and an NvLift which mainly involved tightening the muscles of the lower cheeks, with very little skin tightening.
Dr. Mitchell Chasin is a Cosmetic & Laser Physician at Reflections Center. Dr. Chasin believes strongly that the best cosmetic physicians are those who are dedicated to mastering their craft through continuing education and collaboration with the industry’s top doctors.
